Archive
2024
January
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25th January, 2024 4 min read |
Sci-Fi Short Stories to Read Aloud with the KidsI've been trying to read a Sci-Fi short story to the kids at bedtime, in between other longer books. This is how it's been going. |
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4th January, 2024 5 min read |
Super Fast Reader Mode for the Entire Web, with Dillo PlusWant "Reader Mode" for (almost) the entire web - and have every page load almost instanly? Here's how. |
2023
May
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28th May, 2023 2 min read |
Thanks, David Peter (sharkdp)!Thank you to David Peter for your hard work making the world a better place through open source. |
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27th May, 2023 1 min read |
Debugging with an existing browser instance, or Brave in VSCodeHow to use an existing instance of a browser to debug in VSCode - instead of always launching a new one, or use debug in Brave. |
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25th May, 2023 3 min read |
Thanks, Zachary Yedidia (zyedidia)!Thank you to Zachary Yedidia for your hard work making the world a better place through open source. |
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23rd May, 2023 1 min read |
Using git hashes in Vite & VueJSHow to use git hashes - or other environment variables in Vite & Vue 3 |
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22nd May, 2023 2 min read |
Thanks, Andrew Gallant (burntsushi)!Thank you to Andrew Gallant for your hard work making the world a better place through open source. |
2022
December
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3rd December, 2022 2 min read |
Fixing apt: Key is stored in legacy trusted.gpg keyring WarningsHow apy keys work, what .source files are and how to fix Key is stored in legacy trusted.gpg keyring Warnings |
November
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22nd November, 2022 1 min read |
Automatically Publishing a Blogroll from an OPML FileI wrote a little script that asks Miniflux for a list of my feeds in OPML format and turns it into an AsciiDoc page |
October
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18th October, 2022 2 min read |
Review: Morcheeba Blackest Blue Tour, Vancouver 2022Fun, music great, lighting great, encore fantastic. Loads of audience participation, singing and dancing throughout. |
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4th October, 2022 2 min read |
Review: Florence + the Machine Gig, Vancouver 2022The incredible, joyous, wonderful Florence + the Machine. Amazing. |
May
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29th May, 2022 9 min read |
Supply Chain Attacks & Package Managers - a Solution?In their When Will We Learn post, Drew DeVault says that 'The correct way to ship packages is with your distribution's package manager.' I wanted to try and figure out if this would work in practice, what that might look like, and how that might scale. |
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9th May, 2022 2 min read |
Review: Sigur Rós World Tour, Vancouver 2022Good, but I didn't feel very engaged with the music. |
April
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6th April, 2022 12 min read |
Using Windows after 15 years on LinuxI've been using Linux exclusively for ~15 yrs. This is my first time using Windows after a 15-year break. This is how it's been going. |
March
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20th March, 2022 1 min read |
Write to Minister Guilbeault Opposing Bay Du Nord Offshore Oil DevelopmentI've just sent a message to Minister Guilbeault and key cabinet ministers opposing Bay Du Nord offshore oil development. |
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16th March, 2022 2 min read |
Review: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Gig, Vancouver 2022A spellbinding & breathtaking evening, with a couple of surprising jewels, in a night full of riches. |
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6th March, 2022 1 min read |
The Python Black formatter outputs to stderr, not stdoutThe Python Black formatter outputs to stderr, not stdout |
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5th March, 2022 1 min read |
Windows PowerShell aliases can’t have parameters, you need to write a function.Windows PowerShell does support aliases, but doesn't support commands with parameters in aliases - you have to create a function |
February
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24th February, 2022 1 min read |
Templating JSON data into a Variable, in BashHow to template out JSON in Bash |
2021
November
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13th November, 2021 2 min read |
Three Editor Use CasesI have three different text editors, that I use for three distinct use cases. |
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9th November, 2021 8 min read |
Styleable Inline SVG Icons, with Caching & FallbackA fairly simple, inline, styleable SVG sprite system for icons, with caching and fallback. |
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6th November, 2021 2 min read |
You Should Write to Your UK MP about Corruption NowI've just emailed my UK MP to complain about government corruption & Owen Patterson. You should do the same. |
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1st November, 2021 1 min read |
A ‘git up’ alias that works for any default branchHow to find a git repositories default branch name |
September
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19th September, 2021 2 min read |
Speedrunning Computer Games History with a 6yr Old - Part 4The one where we played Legend of Zelda in our pyjamas. |
August
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14th August, 2021 5 min read |
How to Contribute a Change to NginxI wanted to add dark mode support to the default nginx "Welcome to nginx" page. This is the process of getting that change from my brain, into the upstream nginx codebase. |
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5th August, 2021 1 min read |
Cssmin is Unmaintained & has a Bug with Complex :is Selectorscssmin is unmaintained & has a bug with complex :is selectors |
July
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24th July, 2021 2 min read |
Custom Per Page CSS With PelicanSometimes I want to have a just _a tiny bit_ of CSS that's unique, just for one page or post. I don't want a whole new stylesheet, or to have to add this to my site-wide theme, just for one post - I want a simple way to add it in the post itself. This is how I did it. |
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19th July, 2021 1 min read |
The CSS :is selector is pretty neatYou can use the new CSS :is selector to write complex CSS selectors in a much more compact way |
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13th July, 2021 1 min read |
Don’t Put Eggs Under Your Tomatoes, if you have RaccoonsThey will dig up your garden to get them. |
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11th July, 2021 1 min read |
Running python webservers on port 80 without rootHow to allow python (or anything else) to listen/bind to port 80 without being root |
June
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22nd June, 2021 1 min read |
Ninja is a surprisingly nice build system for tiny projectsNinja is a surprisingly nice build system for tiny projects. That's more or less the opposite of what it's designed for, but it works really well for tiny things. |
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21st June, 2021 1 min read |
Better content-type guessing in AWS CLIThe content-type guessing done by AWS CLI is based on the mimetype definitions available on your system. You can improve the mimetype guessing by updating these definitions. |
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21st June, 2021 1 min read |
Fixing content types in s3 using the AWS CLII had an issue where the AWS CLI wasn't guessing the content-type of SVG files correctly on sync and was setting them to `application/octet-stream` - the default "I don't know" mimetype. This is a quick fix for that. |
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16th June, 2021 3 min read |
Lessons from Two Years of FermentingHere's what I've learned from fermenting vegetables of various kinds (and occasionally other things) at home for a little over two years. It's a fun, interesting & nutritious hobby. |
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15th June, 2021 1 min read |
Good, simple, Bash slugify functionHow to slugify strings in bash, using a fairly simple function. |
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15th June, 2021 1 min read |
Promise.allSettled in JavaScriptSometimes I want to resolve several promises at once, then do something when they're all done. For example, make several API calls, then do something with all the results. Promise.allSettled is a better way to do this. |
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9th June, 2021 1 min read |
Nullish coalescing in JavaScript (??)My new favourite thing in JS is Nullish coalescing: The nullish coalescing operator (??) is a logical operator that returns its right-hand side operand when its left-hand side operand is null or undefined, and otherwise returns its left-hand side operand. |
April
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25th April, 2021 3 min read |
Speedrunning Computer Games History with a 6yr Old - Part 3The one where we just play Gauntlet over and over. |
March
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27th March, 2021 4 min read |
Speedrunning Computer Games History with a 6yr Old - Part 2It's been almost four months since we started and it's been, predictably, lots of fun. |
January
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12th January, 2021 12 min read |
Using AsciiDoc & Asciidoctor for bloggingUsing AsciiDoc & Asciidoctor for blogging. |
2020
December
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27th December, 2020 7 min read |
Speedrunning Computer Games History with a 6yr Old - Part 1The kid doesn't really know any better, so we can play Space Invaders unsullied by time and expectations and enjoy a speedrun through gaming history, playing just the highlights. |
April
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28th April, 2020 3 min read |
Fermented Bánh Mì/Đồ Chua(ish) RecipeMy very loose adaptation of traditional Vietnamese Bánh Mì/Đồ Chua, honed by trial and error into this simple & delicious form. |
2019
August
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10th August, 2019 3 min read |
Basic Pickles or Fermented Cucumbers RecipeHere's my fermented cucumbers recipe, honed to perfection over many trials. |
2016
March
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22nd March, 2016 3 min read |
I finally figured out my mysterious 418/Unused HTTP Status CodeI've had a mysterious broken page on this site for a while - but been too busy to look into it. I finally made the time to figure it out. |
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5th March, 2016 3 min read |
How I upgraded this website to Pelican 3.6This site has been generated using Pelican 3.3 for over two years. I finally found some time to upgrade to the current version of Pelican, 3.6.3. This is how I did the upgrade. |
2014
January
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22nd January, 2014 2 min read |
Reliably Building VirtualBox Guest Additions on CentOS 6.xIt took me a while to figure out how to get the VirtualBox Guest Additions to build reliably on CentOS 6.x - here's how to do it. |
2013
November
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22nd November, 2013 1 min read |
It was a Good WeekI am a very, very lucky guy - and I have a lot to be thankful for. |
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18th November, 2013 1 min read |
How to create thumbnails for PDFs with ImageMagick on LinuxHow to create image thumbnails for PDFs, on Linux, using ImageMagick - a simple explanation, with examples. |
October
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19th October, 2013 4 min read |
The Better Figures & Images Pelican plugin now supports Figure NumberingMy Better Figures & Images Pelican plugin now supports automatic Figure Numbering - Yay! Here's how it works. |
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18th October, 2013 4 min read |
How I upgraded this website to Pelican 3.3A few of the changes in Pelican 3.3 might mean making some changes to your site in order to upgrade. Here's how I upgraded my site from Pelican 3.2 to 3.3. |
September
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13th September, 2013 1 min read |
Obrigado Deny!I've recently been corresponding with Denny Dias, from Brazil - and we've been helping each other out a bit with building themes and whatnot... |
August
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27th August, 2013 9 min read |
Comprehensive Linux Backups with etckeeper & backupninjaHaving an easy to setup, comprehensive, automated backup strategy is very relaxing - here's how to create one. |
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19th August, 2013 1 min read |
How to convert FLAC files from 24/48 bit to 16 bit on Ubuntu LinuxHow to convert FLAC files from 24/48bit to 16bit - converting all the files in a folder, preserving the metadata. |
July
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17th July, 2013 10 min read |
Sunshine Coast: Thormanby Islands & Smuggler Cove Kayak TripTrip Report from our Canada Day 2013 long weekend kayak camping trip to Thormanby Islands, Smuggler Cove & Secret Cove, on the Sunshine Coast, BC. |
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5th July, 2013 3 min read |
How I compress PNG files on this websiteUsing a careful combination of compression techniques, I can get up to 3x compression over regular PNG files, for my use case. Here's how... |
June
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28th June, 2013 3 min read |
Useful Thunar Custom ActionsHere's how to add useful custom actions to Thunar's right click menu - and a collection of handy actions to get you started. |
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23rd June, 2013 2 min read |
Post Statistics Plugin for PelicanA Pelican plugin to calculate various statistics about a post and store them in an `+article.stats+` dictionary. Includes time to read, word count, word frequency and Flesch-kincaid stats. |
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19th June, 2013 14 min read |
A Marvellous & Incomplete Compendium of reddit Automatons & BotsReddit had 71.4m visitors last month, with over 2.3m people logged in. I say people - but it turns out that not all of the denizens of Reddit are human. There are also bots. Lots and lots of bots... |
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14th June, 2013 11 min read |
The Smart Guide to Stack Overflow: Zero to HeroHow to use Stack Overflow effectively, how to gain reputation and become a valued, successful member of the community. |
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7th June, 2013 9 min read |
How to switch to Compton for beautiful tear free compositing in XFCEHow to quickly & easily setup & configure Compton in XFCE for beautiful, tear free, glassy smooth window dragging, drop shadows, etc... |
May
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31st May, 2013 7 min read |
Magic Phone Numbers: My VOIP Setup, with voip.msI wanted something better than Skype, exactly like a regular local phone number - just call it and ring a phone on the other side of the world, for free. |
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29th May, 2013 8 min read |
Better Figures & Images Plugin for PelicanHow to get perfect and responsive images and figures with Pelican - using the Better Images & Figures Plugin. |
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17th May, 2013 9 min read |
How I built this website, using Pelican: Part 1 - SetupI take you from zero to a complete, fully functional website, built the way a professional web developer would do it, using Pelican. |
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13th May, 2013 4 min read |
Using UDF as an improved filesystem for USB Flash DrivesMost USB Flash drives are formatted using the FAT32 filesystem - which only supports files up to 4GB each, no matter how much free space you've got. |
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7th May, 2013 1 min read |
How to convert Apple Lossless/ALAC/.m4a files to FLAC with avconv, on Ubuntu LinuxHow to convert from ALAC to FLAC - converting all the .m4a files in a folder to .flac files, preserving the metadata. |
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3rd May, 2013 2 min read |
How to set your Compose Key on XFCE/Xubuntu & LXDE LinuxThe compose key on Linux is _incredibly_ useful, but not set by default - and on XFCE there's currently no GUI to change it. Here's how to do it... |
April
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26th April, 2013 3 min read |
Welcome to the New Site; same as the Old Site.I've been meaning to consolidate my personal websites onto this domain for a _long, long_ time. My original personal website, dflock.co.uk, started in the late nineties - and has been getting a bit long in the tooth of late. |